The Cave
by LavenderCrystalOfRoses
Summary: Long before the quest to reclaim Erebor, two dwarves had a different adventure. Features Kid!Company Members as well as Preaccident!Bifur.


**A/N: A story on my favorite families, the Urs and the Ris! So just to mke things clear-**

**In this fic, Bombur is Thirty years old, like Ori, which would be ten in our years.**

**Nori=36=12**

**Bofur=42=14**

**Dori=49=16**

**Bifur=51=17**

**This is dedicated to Brian, who encouraged me to publish this. I have now. :D**

It started out an ordinary day. That was what Bombur thought. Yes, just an ordinary day...

Bombur opened his eyes. He could smell cooking, and light was streaming through the entrance... Just like always, today would be a busy day indeed. He immediately got up and took over the pot for his brother, Bofur, and together the family ate breakfast. After this they would go their separate ways. Bifur and Bofur went off to the mines, and Bombur(Being too young for minework) Would work taking care of ponies at the local stable. At Noon, Bombur would come home, have a solitary lunch, do his chores, and then have some time to himself before he went to his second shift the stables. Afterwords he would come home. An hour later Bifur and Bofur would come home as well. Dinner would be made and chores would be done, and then they would talk about how their days had went. Then they would fall asleep and it would begin all over again. And today would be no different. Or so he thought.

Perhaps I should explain something. The little settlement where Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur was a little... unconventional. First of all, it was in a gorge. Secondly, the homes were not surrounded by the cliffs...they were _in _the cliffs. That was quite alright with the dwarves. They prefered the darkness of carved out tunnels."Dark for Dark business." As they always said. And so our story starts, in that gorge, one lovely spring morning...

Bombur ate his lunch(Left over breakfast stew) and looked around. His chores were all done, he still had plenty of time before the next shift. There was nothing much to do. He sighed and pushed off his stool. He decided to play a game, a solitary game which involved some stones and a small dip in the ground. Toss. Toss. That was when he heard-

"Bombur! Bombur! Hey, Bombur!" Ori, his best friend, called.

"What? What?" Asked Bombur eagerly

.Ori barged into the cave. "You gotta see this!"

Ori and Bombur were exactly the same age. Well, Ori was older by maybe a couple seconds. It had always been a joke between the two that Ori was the older one. Anyway, at the moment Ori rushed back out again. Bombur, who was getting excited as well, followed after him. Ori's home was above and to the far right of Bombur's. Bombur went slower then Ori.

He had once nearly fell on these ledges not that long ago and was still wary of the drop. he passed the entrance to the mine, where is brother and cousin were working. He gave a quick wave in that direction, not caring that that they couldn't see it. By the time he reached Ori's (puffing slightly) He was dying to know whatever Ori was so excited over was. "Tada!" Said Ori, holding up a pickaxe. "Dori just got it yesterday for mining! Isn't it cool?" Bombur thought it was extremely cool, made of real, black, iron, with asmooth hardwood handle. "It's amazing, Ori."

"Yup! I just knew you would say that! Now could you help me put this ba-" Maybe someone's hand slipped. Maybe it was simply just to heavy for two thirty year old dwarves to handle. Either way, they dropped it, with a loud thump that made both boys cringe. Ori went white. "I hope it didn't break. Dori told me that it took all his savings to buy it." He crouched down to inspect the damage. As it oturned out, the pickaxe was fine. It was the _floor _that needed worrying about. For now there was a large, gaping hole in the center of the entrance hall. Ori went, if possible, even whiter. "Oh...no..."

"Maybe we could cover it up...somehow..." Bombur offered.

Ori brightened alittle. "Yeah...but how?"

"Errm...Well, it's _kinda_ neat..." said Bombur, trying to look on the bright side.

Ori had to agree. "The problem is, I don't think Mother would think so..."

He peered down the hole. "I wonder how deep it is."

"Maybe we could fill it up."

"Maybe..."

Ori took a stone and tossed it down. Not a sound.

"I don't think we can fill it up."

"Hmmm..."

They stared at the hole.

"It'd be cool to explore in, though." Said Bombur.

"Yep, it sure would. Maybe if we found something neat, we wouldn't get in trouble!"

"OK, OK. It's just...I don't think..." He blushed.

"Hmmm...that might be a problem...Oh, I know!"

Ori grabbed the pickaxe once more and with a _thwack _brought it down on the edge of the hole. "There! Now there's plenty of room! We can't get in _that _much more trouble for widening it, right?"

"I'll go first!" Said Ori excitedly.

"Me after!"

He stood over the edge. "Well...here I Goooo!" Bombur called down, "Ori! Ori! Are you alright? What's it like down there?!" Then he heard Ori call up faintly, "Bombur! Bombur! Help!" What had happened to Ori? Was he in danger? He needed to get help! But Ori needed help right now! What should he do? He glanced at the entrance, steeled himself...and jumped.

Have you ever fallen in the dark?

Well, it's incredibly scary. Just ask Bombur and Ori.

Minutes passed, and Bombur landed...in the water? Suddenly, he felt a strong current sweeping at him. In the (very) dim light, he spotted Ori, clinging to a rock, slipping. He he flailed in Ori's direction, with help from the current. As he went by, Ori caught him by the hand. Bombur pushed him up on to the rock, and then Ori, in turn(using the rock as a fulcrum) helped him up. The two boys then lay on the rock, gasping for breath. Ori broke the silence. "So...what now?"

"I don't know." Silence. "Hmmm... Bifur always says that when you're in a bad situation, you should make a list of everything you have, and then make the best of it."

"Hmm, we have our wet clothes, our shoes, eachother, uh... a rock that we're standing on, and it's pretty big, 'cause Bombur can stand on it with room to-"

"Hey!" Bombur shouted. Ori laughed humorously at his joke, before yelping as cold water was splashed onto him. "Hey!" Now it was Bombur's turn to laugh. "So...maybe we could climb up?" He asked after a silence. "No good. We're surrounded by rushing water." Ori Responded. And that is when they looked up. And they realized they diefinitely couldn't climb back up. Have you ever looked up at a starry sky? Well, that's what that chink of light that was the faraway entrance looked like. A faraway star.

* * *

"Bombur? Hey, Bombur!" At about same time Bombur jumped through the hole, Bifur and Bofur went home for lunch. They couldn't always make it, because mining was a demanding job that required a lot of time, but when they could, they did. "He's probably at Ori's." Said Bifur. "I'll go get him." Bifur walked up the pathway to Ori's family's cave. "Bombur! Hey, Bombur! You there?" No answer. Now they were getting worried. It was a small settlement, there were only so many places Bombur could go. After eating their own lunch, Bombur still didn't return. Still worried, they went back to mining, figuring that he must have gone back to his shift early. But belief didn't last long. On their way to the mines, Hurgi, owner of the local stables that Bombur worked, came up to them. "Bifur! Bofur! Have you seen Bombur?"

"Isn't he at the stables?"

"No, He went to his morning shift but never returned after he finished!" Bofur's blood turned cold. "Erm, uh, we'll go get him."

"Yes!" Exclaimed Bifur. "He probably went to Ori's and lost track of time." He lied, knowing full well they weren't there. (Actually, at the moment, they were _under _Ori's.) "Bye!" They quickly turned away from a rather bewildered Hurgi and promptly bumped into a very worried Dori and a not-so-worried Nori. "Have you seen Ori? He's gone! Oh, he could be anywhere!" Rambled Dori. Nori, two years younger than Bofur, said more calmly, "He's probably with Bombur, right Bofur?"

"NO! He isn't, for the millionth time! He's gone too!" Yelled Bofur angrily at the younger dwarf. Nori took a step back. Bifur patted him comfortingly, then asked, "Well, where could they be? They're not at the stables, the mine is guarded, and I'm assuming you checked your home..."

"No, we were just going to."

"Well what are we waiting for? Let's go!" Exclaimed Dori.

* * *

"Maybe we could swim to the other side? The river can't be that deep." suggested Ori. "Or Swift." agreed Bombur.

"It's our best shot."

"After all, there's not that much to swimming, is there? Just...running in water, basically."

"True."

"Well, after you."

"No, no, after you."

"No, I insist."

"Let's just go in at the same time."

Which was rather fortunate Ori suggested that, for the moment they jumped in, hands clasped tightly, they realized that they had forgotten how deep and swift it was. Thrashing desperately against the current, they were swept away. If there hands had not been gripping eachother, they would have been lost for certain. Instead, exhausted from their struggle, they succumbed to the blackness, hands still held.

Bombur blinked his eyes open. Everything was blurry, and they weren't moving anymore, and he was so tired, and there was Ori, and he was barely conscious as well, and... he let his eyes fall shut.

"Bombur? Bombur, wake up." Said Ori. "Huh? Oh, Bofur, I had the strangest dream..." He stood and took in his surroundings. "It isn't a dream."

"We got swept downstream and by the most bizarre luck we managed to moor up here."

"Oh, right."

"Well, no way but onward," Said Ori, pointing pointing down at the shoreline infront which stretched ahead a promising distance, with a glance at the shoreline behind, which wad cut off by water. "C'mon!" And with that Ori led the still slightly groggy Bombur downshore. Neither boy gave much notice that it was much lighter now, and perhaps it was it was better that way...

Bofur, Nori, Dori, and Bifur burst into the Ri home. the sight that met them was a large hole. They stared uncomprehendingly at it until Dori snapped out of it when he heard the sound of Tori, their Mother, walking up the path... "Mother! Hello!" Said Nori, scooting aside to block the entrance. "Hello, there, my little duckling..."

"_Mother_!" Groaned Nori. "Nori, could you please move aside? I'm going over to the market and I thought I'd check in..." Dori said, "Mother, I'm sorry to say that-"

"You can't go in because...um...we made a mess. It's not that big but it is well, messy, but we got it under control sohavefunatthemarketgoodbye!" Nori said, pushing his mother down the trail. "Erm, well," said their mother. Nori took a deep breath, widened his eyes, puffed his cheeks, and gave his mother a huge smile. In short, he looked adorable. "Alright!" Said Tori. "Get that mess up soon now!" Then she turned and strode down the trail. Dori almost shouted, "Nori! We need to tell her about Ori! Poor Ori! Probably cold and wet and..."

"There's not a cloud in the sky, dummy. How could he get wet?"

"Anyway,she will come back and-" Nori smirked and held up their Mother's housekey. "_Nori! _Go give that back to Mother right now!"

"Not on your-" Bifur stepped between the squabbling brothers.

"Can you please stop fighting? We need to figure out what happened to Bombur and Ori!"

"I think we know. The hole?" Offered Bofur.

"Ah, you're right. Now, if I had made a hole with my brother's pickaxe wanted to avoid trouble, where would I go?"

"I know! There's an oasis 4 to 5 miles from here. They could go there." Said Dori.

"_Forty five miles?!" ._

_"_Four _to _Five miles."

"Oh."

* * *

Ori and Bombur were crossing the underground river using large flat stones. Ori had just hopped onto the stone ahead when he heard Bombur squeak something unintelligable. He turned around to find his friend petrified with fright. "What is it Bom-" Then he saw. And it truly was terrifying.

The fish had to be at least 50 feet long. It had gleaming red eyes, and razor sharp teeth. Its scales were a sickly yellow that glowed with an unnatual light. More huge glowing shapes could be seen below it. "W-well, now we know why it's so light here." The most disturbing thing about the fish was that it was staring at them. Hungrily. "RUN!" They screamed at the same time. And they did, adrenaline pumping through their veins. The fish followed from the water. It was catching up... in silent agreement they picked up rocks and threw them as they ran. It didn't do a bit of good, and in fact, made the creature angrier. It lept out of the water, and thrashed towards them. "It's been a pleasure knowing you, Ori."

"You too." The fish, using it's immense fins to get closer, and closer, and then...with a sound of agony, the fish thrashed away from them. A huge, sharp slap of rock had gotten lodged in it's scales, and they threw stones again with renewed strength. Eventually, it thrashed back into the watery abyss, and disappeared from sight, though leaving behind a trail of bloodd, and the turbulent waters told them the thrashing fish was still nearby. "Let's leave, shall we?!" Said Bombur. "I hope that's the only giant thing in this place." said Ori as they hurried ahead.

* * *

When Bifur, Bofur, Nori, and Dori reached the oasis, Bombur and Ori were nowhere to be found. They searched every inch, every treetop, they even held their breaths and peered into the only pond. They went back to the ponies(Obtained from the local stable, all while avoiding Hurgi, who would undoubted ask where Bombur and Ori were again) in disappointment. Bofur asked Dori, "Dori, please please try and think of another Oasis. You're the only one who ever pays attention to maps, please, please try and think of another one!"

"I am, I am! Hmm... the only other one I can think of is about 15 miles from here! They'd never make it! And-"

"That's closest one?"

"C'mon! Let's go!"

"Wait! According to my calculations, there is a 91.43% chance that-" But too late, his companions were already up and away. Dori sighed and followed.

* * *

All the while, Bombur and Ori were walking alongside the river, which had dropped into a deep gorge. The glowing light was very strong, and from afar it truly was a beautiful sight, but the pair could only look at it and remember fearfully of the brush with the carnivorous fish. They walked quietly, there was nothing to say. When suddenly..."Wow!" Said Bombur. "Amazing!" Said Ori. For the river shallowed up once more, and that was when it...stopped in a large, glowing pool. A giant fish surfaced.

"Ack!"

"Eep!"

They ducked behind a rock. Then they kept walking, rather swiftly. They went through a small tunnel with gems in it. "Wow!" Bombur tried to pull one out.

"Ergh! Ergh!"

"Here, let me try- ergh! Nope, it's not going anywhere."

"Darn."

"Double darn." Then, a soft sound from another tunnel.

"W-what was that?"

"I don't know, but what ever it is, it's getting closer!" They skeddaddled farely quickly. After much, much, more walking, reached a huge cliff. Well they weren't going to climb, that's for sure, not with legs that felt like they were going to fall of any moment. However, there was a decent sized tunnel in it. They started to go down it. But then...they stopped.

"Something just doesn't feel right."

"I know. I don't think we should go down there."

"Yeah." And that was before the huge, glowing, purple eyes.

* * *

It was late in the afternoon when the group reached the second oasis. The second oasis was much, much, larger than the other. To cover more ground, They split into groups of two to hurry up the situation. Bofur and Nori in one group, Bifur and Dori in the other.

"Bombur! Bombur! Ori!"

No response.

"Gee, it sure is getting late Dori- Dori? Where are you?"

That's when he heard a blood curdling scream.

He ran at top speed toward the screaming, where he found Nori and Bofur cowering by the bushes, where there was a great rustling and grunting.

"THERE'S A BEAR IN THE BUSHES!" Yelled Nori to Bifur as he appeared. "It's not a bear, It's me, Dori!" Came a voice from the bushes. "My arm got caught," he added as he stepped out. "B-but there c-could be a bear around here, right? Look there's even a cave it could live in!" said Bofur. "No. How would bears even get here? We're surrounded by desert!"

"Oh, right." Said Bofur.

"I knew that." Said Nori, rather unconvincingly.

"Do I really remind you _that _much of a _bear_?" Demanded Dori.

Bofur changed the subject."Well, it looks like we'll have to spend the night." He said.

"Do we really have to sleep so near the bear cave- I mean, maybe we should sleep over there."

"There are no bears, you two. You'll be fine." Said Dori reassuringly. Reluctantly, the younger members of the group lay on the ground. Then, sleep slowly took over.

* * *

Ori and Bombur watched in horror as a huge, long, black scaly body slid out of the shadows, eyes glowing. It hissed menacingly. "AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" screamed Bombur and Ori. The snake circled around the dwarves, fixating them in it's glare. They backed up against the corner. The snake reared up, high as the towering cliff above it, eyes glittering, tiny beads of poison gleamed on the tips of its black fangs. Then it lunged. And at that precise moment, Bombur and Ori fainted with fright.

When Bombur woke up, he was shocked to notice that he wasn't dead. The snake's head was smashed against the boulders. Disgusting oozes ran out of it's head. Avoiding looking at the snake's grotesque corpse, they instead fixed their gaze on the terribly high cliff. "We would never make it."

"I bet we could go through the tunnel the snake came out of. It doesn't feel dangerous anymore." So they did.

It smelled horrible.

And there was a dead end.

Then, as they headed out, they spotted a large hole, much larger. "Let's go threw there," said Bombur, voicing both their thoughts. And so they were about to, when- they saw the others. There were more holes, and out of them pouring masses of snakes, some smaller, and some larger, and some the same size as the snake the pair had encountered, crawling towards the huge entrance, paying no mind to their dead kin. When the last of them vanished, all they could do was stare in shock. Then, swiftly, they scrambled at the cliff because they sure didn't want to be there when the snakes got back!

It was a long, hard, climb. They barely made it. But the fear of the snakes kept them going. They couldn't have made it without eachother. Ori lost hold, Bombur grabbed his hand.

When Bombur's foot slipped, and threatened to send him tumbling, Ori swiftly pushed it back onto a ledge.

After what seemed hours of climbing, They flopped onto the cliff side, breathing heavily. The climb had been a huge strain on them.

Ori crawled over to his companion. "Bombur*Gasp*, we*Gasp* -hey, Bombur!" "*Gasp* *Gasp* Are we *Gasp* alive?" He gave Ori a tired smile.

Ori smiled back. "Yup, I *Gasp* reckon we are."'

Then they fell asleep. Simple as that.

* * *

Ori awoke to the sound of fluttering wings above his head. He shook Bombur awake. They looked at eachother, and then they screamed, "VAMPIRE BATS! HELP, HELP!" Then they screamed as they ran down the tunnel infront of the cliff. Meanwhile, the perfectly harmless fruitbats wondered what the heck had gotten into those dwarves.

Meanwhile, Ori and Bombur ran, and ran, and Bombur shielded his eyes from the light...Light?Then he tripped over Ori, and Ori tripped over Bombur, and they landed.

"Well, there you two are! Why didn't you come out sooner? We've been worried sick!" Said Bofur, looking down at them.

"Bofur! Boy, am I glad to see you!" Said Bombur, getting up and embracing his brother.

"Ori! You're safe!" Dori gave his brother a big hug. "You're...damp! See Nori, I _told _you he could've gotten wet!"

"Ok, Ok! Hey, were there any bears in there?"

"Nope! But there were giant fish!"

Silence.

"And snakes too! They were huge and scary and they wanted to eat us!"

"It's OK, you two. We know why you _really _went in there!" Said Bifur.

"And don't worry, your Mother isn't-your mother! Quick, let's go!" Yelled Bofur. With that, the two found themselves being dragged to four ponies. Ori found himself sharing a pony with Dori, and Bombur got set behind Bifur.

As they rode, Ori asked, "How faraway did we come?"

"Oh, about twenty miles." Said Dori. "How long have we been missing?" Asked Bombur.

"Almost twenty four hours."

"Two to four hours?!"

"_Twenty _four hours."

"Oh."

* * *

When the group of six got back to the settlement, a small crowd of townsfolk were waiting for them. "Oh, thank goodness you are safe!" Said Tori. "I got back from the market and the door was locked and I couldn't find the key and-"

"Did you check your pockets, Mother?" Asked Nori. "Yes, but-Oh, _here _it is! I don't know how I missed it! Thank you, Nori you are such a _dear_-" Nori smirked. Dori rolled his eyes.

* * *

"So, here's the hole that we need to fix." Said Bifur thoughtfully.

They were back at Ori's house.

"Say, I bet this would be great for exploring-" Began Nori.

"NO!" Said Ori and Bombur at the same time.

"Snakes-" started Ori.

"Huge carnivorous fish-" began Bombur.

"Oh, stop it, you two, for the last time you aren't in trouble!"

"But-"

"But-"

"Why don't you take measurements over there? Something to keep you busy." Said Dori.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"I don't get it, Ori! Why does no one believe us?"

"To unbelievable, I guess. But I believe you, and you believe me."

"That'll have to be good enough."

And so, long before the quest to reclaim Erebor, two dwarves had another adventure...

**A/N: Ok, I know the ages and timelines are totally skewed. I'm sorry. How did I do portraying Dori, Nori, Ori, Bifur, Bofur, and Bombur as kids? Please tell me. Did anyone catch the Madagascar 2 references? Hope you enjoyed it !**


End file.
